Sweet build and thread! I’m going to do TBS on my next tank - very cool.
THz's Build Thread - RedSea S 850 G2+
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smitten with ocean life
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your tank is gorgeous! i hear you about everything needing to be online. ive been able to avoid most of the stuff that needs it but not all. super annoying. but youre doing an amazing job!
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I didn’t have any algae (knock on wood). I have some intense lights I’m currently at 900 par on my rocks and 550 on my sand. When I turned them on I was in the 600/350 range. I did have diatoms and cyano came and went. Love your set up. Look forward to watching it come in.
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Thanks. TBS rocks :P Even though they had to increase their prices significantly last year due to hurricanes, I still think it's worth it.
OP
OP
Thank you!
I'm really disappointed the hobby has gone in the "smart device/cloud" direction. Everything has its own "smart" controller, with internet access and an app, and nothing talks to the thing next to it. Even GHL is on that trend. I have to sign up for myghl to get the history of my KH director measurements or any other sensor, for that matter.
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Thank you for the kind words and support.
Just finished reading through this build thread after seeing your post in a recent thread about handling power outages. Nice wiring job!
I'll be following along and looking forward to seeing how this tank progresses.
I'll be following along and looking forward to seeing how this tank progresses.
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Absolutely. Good stuff you got there! :)
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Thank you! Welcome to the jorney :)
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I think the Natural Reef grade Carib Sea works excellently with the TBS sand.
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Alright, this is a big moment for me. I've been trying to extract data from my GHL ecosystem for weeks now. Going about it in different ways, and was not satisfied with any of them. Until a couple of days ago I decided to go full R. and implement a web browser client parser of the dashboard page. It's super ugly and hacky, but it seems to be able to consistently detect the websocket changes and generate timeseries measurements out of them.
And so I give you my in-progress, but much more data-rich dashboard:
It includes power data from the two power circuits, per-channel LED values of the ReeFi LEDs, ReefMat stats (I need a new roll!), and all sensors (level or probe), switch channels, kh director measurements, and control circuits from GHL!
I also did a 2 month cleaning of the tank. The back glass had a nice mat of hair algae that after a nice sqeeze ended up about 119g:
The picture makes it look like healthy/vibrant green, but in reality, it was super pale, more brown than green algae. Either way, it's gone now. But not before the tank water became soup lol:
The reefmat did a great job cleaning all that. It took a couple of hours (and I heard to roller advance several times), but the water is nice now. It's too dark to take a picture - I'll post a FTS again on the next update.
I also introduced a tuxedo urchin and 4 turbo snails to start cleaning up the rocks. In 3 days, they already mowed down half of one of the big rock formations.
So right now, the livestock looks like this:
1 lightning maroon (female/bigger)
1 regular maroon (male/smaller)
1 blue hippo tang
1 yellow watchman goby
1 pistol shrimp
2 skunk shrimp
1 fire shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
1 tuxedo urchin
4 turbo snails
a dozen or so mix of hermits and snails
And to be a proper thread, I need to share my failure as well:
I was browsing Biota's website for inspiration and saw a small regal angel in stock. An expensive, experts-only fish. I couldn't resist, and thought since the tank is large and doesn't have many inhabitants, the small fish can grow in it. Well, I'm not an expert because the fish survived all of 10 days in my care. Here is the story:
When I got it, I was extremely surprised by the size (sub 3/4"), even though it was very clear on the website. Somehow, I just didn't comprehend it. I put the fish in an acclimation box in the display with some structure for it to hide. On the next day, it was eating freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, so I got excited. I kept hatching brine shrimp every day to feed, and it seemed to work.
Around day 6, I decided to release it into the display since it seemed to eat well, and none of the other fish in the tank seemed to mind it. I figured it can graze on the rocks some algae, pick on copepods, etc. Once released, the clowns went to say "hi" by just being close to it for 3-4 seconds and then swam away. The fish swam to a corner and, a few minutes later, started exploring the rockwork.
On day 8, it was a normal day, most of the day, I kept feeding it baby brine several times a day, like I had up until then. But in the evening, I didn't immediately see the fish. I started searching and saw it stuck to the gyre sideways :(. I quickly turned it off, and the fish swam away without immediately visible damage. I have no idea how long it had spent there.
I put the fish back into the acclimation box right away. On closer inspection, it looked like there was minor damage to the right gill plate, and I noticed a minor lateral line issue. Per Biota's recommendation, I started adding some AminOmega to the brine shrimp before feeding them to her. She still ate like always. I did see her poop as well, so I know the digestive system was working somewhat! But the tail fin started falling apart. By day 9, while she was still eating, most of her tail was gone.
On day 10, she started lying on the side and eventually passed away.
I don't know if the fish was deteriorating before I released her, and thus was not strong enough and got stuck to the gyre, or if getting stuck to the gyre damaged her too much. Either way, expensive lesson for me.
But man, that Grafana dashboard! lol
And so I give you my in-progress, but much more data-rich dashboard:
It includes power data from the two power circuits, per-channel LED values of the ReeFi LEDs, ReefMat stats (I need a new roll!), and all sensors (level or probe), switch channels, kh director measurements, and control circuits from GHL!
I also did a 2 month cleaning of the tank. The back glass had a nice mat of hair algae that after a nice sqeeze ended up about 119g:
The picture makes it look like healthy/vibrant green, but in reality, it was super pale, more brown than green algae. Either way, it's gone now. But not before the tank water became soup lol:
The reefmat did a great job cleaning all that. It took a couple of hours (and I heard to roller advance several times), but the water is nice now. It's too dark to take a picture - I'll post a FTS again on the next update.
I also introduced a tuxedo urchin and 4 turbo snails to start cleaning up the rocks. In 3 days, they already mowed down half of one of the big rock formations.
So right now, the livestock looks like this:
1 lightning maroon (female/bigger)
1 regular maroon (male/smaller)
1 blue hippo tang
1 yellow watchman goby
1 pistol shrimp
2 skunk shrimp
1 fire shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
1 tuxedo urchin
4 turbo snails
a dozen or so mix of hermits and snails
And to be a proper thread, I need to share my failure as well:
I was browsing Biota's website for inspiration and saw a small regal angel in stock. An expensive, experts-only fish. I couldn't resist, and thought since the tank is large and doesn't have many inhabitants, the small fish can grow in it. Well, I'm not an expert because the fish survived all of 10 days in my care. Here is the story:
When I got it, I was extremely surprised by the size (sub 3/4"), even though it was very clear on the website. Somehow, I just didn't comprehend it. I put the fish in an acclimation box in the display with some structure for it to hide. On the next day, it was eating freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, so I got excited. I kept hatching brine shrimp every day to feed, and it seemed to work.
Around day 6, I decided to release it into the display since it seemed to eat well, and none of the other fish in the tank seemed to mind it. I figured it can graze on the rocks some algae, pick on copepods, etc. Once released, the clowns went to say "hi" by just being close to it for 3-4 seconds and then swam away. The fish swam to a corner and, a few minutes later, started exploring the rockwork.
On day 8, it was a normal day, most of the day, I kept feeding it baby brine several times a day, like I had up until then. But in the evening, I didn't immediately see the fish. I started searching and saw it stuck to the gyre sideways :(. I quickly turned it off, and the fish swam away without immediately visible damage. I have no idea how long it had spent there.
I put the fish back into the acclimation box right away. On closer inspection, it looked like there was minor damage to the right gill plate, and I noticed a minor lateral line issue. Per Biota's recommendation, I started adding some AminOmega to the brine shrimp before feeding them to her. She still ate like always. I did see her poop as well, so I know the digestive system was working somewhat! But the tail fin started falling apart. By day 9, while she was still eating, most of her tail was gone.
On day 10, she started lying on the side and eventually passed away.
I don't know if the fish was deteriorating before I released her, and thus was not strong enough and got stuck to the gyre, or if getting stuck to the gyre damaged her too much. Either way, expensive lesson for me.
But man, that Grafana dashboard! lol
Last edited:
Sorry about your loss. Biota's fish are usually very tiny in my experience and really need to go into a small tank, like 10 or 20 gallon, for months to give them time to grow before moving to a display. I've seen other threads saying very similar things.
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OP
Ok, I had a little vacation so couldn't post an update, but the tank is still up! :P
Still looking like the moon (mostly sand and rocks) but they tell me patience is key with this hobby :D
In other news, I've been having a fun mystery with the water level in the return chamber of the sump. Every so often, my daily AWC removes more saltwater than it adds freshwater - it seems like the water level just doesn't drop or is somehow higher than usual (I'm suspecting the reefmat).
Here is what a normal AWC looks like, with pretty identical drain and fill durations and mostly a finished state on the High float switch.
Now this is what a strange water change looks like:
Two things to notice: 1, the Drain duration is way longer, and the Fill duration is followed by a series of shorter fills. The problem is, those short fills are fresh water, as they're not part of the saltwater AWC program of the GHL. And as you can expect, the salinity starts to drop (as seen in the Salinity graph).
I think periodically the water level goes above the HIGH float, when the reefmat advances the roller. But I can't explain the slower reaction to fill.
My mitigation so far is to add a delay reaction to the HIGH float switch, which seems to be helping, but it's still not perfect and over time my salinity slowly drifts down. I guess I'll make the next batch of NSW slightly saltier than the display.
In other news, I've started manually dosing Alk (like 25ml every few days) so I can keep the pH above 8. But that's about it on dosing - other than that, the tank is just getting daily AWC.
Lastly, my fish from Dr Reef finally showed up - a Yellow Tang and a Flame Angel. The Tang was in a pretty beat up shape when it arrived (top and bottom fins were torn, tail fin was largely missing, and it was ghost white). But over the last 10 days, it has come back to proper color, it's eating well, and the top and bottom fins are healing. I can't see a difference on the tail yet. The flame is fat and eating as well!
I plan to send an ICP test next week - it's been a month since the last one. I plan to send one every month for the first 6 months or so, and will likely reduce the frequency after that.
Still looking like the moon (mostly sand and rocks) but they tell me patience is key with this hobby :D
In other news, I've been having a fun mystery with the water level in the return chamber of the sump. Every so often, my daily AWC removes more saltwater than it adds freshwater - it seems like the water level just doesn't drop or is somehow higher than usual (I'm suspecting the reefmat).
Here is what a normal AWC looks like, with pretty identical drain and fill durations and mostly a finished state on the High float switch.
Now this is what a strange water change looks like:
Two things to notice: 1, the Drain duration is way longer, and the Fill duration is followed by a series of shorter fills. The problem is, those short fills are fresh water, as they're not part of the saltwater AWC program of the GHL. And as you can expect, the salinity starts to drop (as seen in the Salinity graph).
I think periodically the water level goes above the HIGH float, when the reefmat advances the roller. But I can't explain the slower reaction to fill.
My mitigation so far is to add a delay reaction to the HIGH float switch, which seems to be helping, but it's still not perfect and over time my salinity slowly drifts down. I guess I'll make the next batch of NSW slightly saltier than the display.
In other news, I've started manually dosing Alk (like 25ml every few days) so I can keep the pH above 8. But that's about it on dosing - other than that, the tank is just getting daily AWC.
Lastly, my fish from Dr Reef finally showed up - a Yellow Tang and a Flame Angel. The Tang was in a pretty beat up shape when it arrived (top and bottom fins were torn, tail fin was largely missing, and it was ghost white). But over the last 10 days, it has come back to proper color, it's eating well, and the top and bottom fins are healing. I can't see a difference on the tail yet. The flame is fat and eating as well!
I plan to send an ICP test next week - it's been a month since the last one. I plan to send one every month for the first 6 months or so, and will likely reduce the frequency after that.
Just a suggestion.... I forget what kind of controller you are using but you might try disabling the auto top-off when the AWC is running. Having both running at the same time is probably confusing things. I don't have a ReefMat so can't help there.
OP
OP
I use a Profilux. The ATO is disabled, but it gets enabled again when the AWC change "finishes", which is when the water level is restored to the HIGH position. That's why, I believe, the delay in HIGH response helps with the situation.
OP
OP
We're still here! I've been super busy this month, so no updates - sorry to everyone waiting for an update, all 2? of you :P
So what's happened? Well, two main things.
1. Redbugs
QT only works if you do it right, I suppose. And I guess I didn't. So I have a couple of frags with redbugs on them. This one is the worst:
So I'm sourcing Interceptor. "We don't treat Fish", "We need to do a visit, and it's a $650 min fee", "We're not licensed in CT"... I ordered from Canada.
This will likely be a PITA, because I have 6 shrimp (one of them pistol) that will not be fun to catch, but we'll see. I just got a Melanurus Wrasse as well, but I doubt it will do anything for the red bugs, so I'll likely have to do the Interceptor course.
2. Dinos
Turns out the nitrate(0) phosphate(0.04) imbalance I've been reporting is fueling another nuisance. Not a super heavy infestation, but certainly on the sand and rocks. After a microscope inspection, I've identified them as Ostreopsis.
I don't have space for a UV sterilizer, so I'll start dosing NeoNitro to bring the Nitrates up a bit. I'm guessing the 0 is also what's discoloring the test frags I have in the tank. It's a good thing I'm so busy, otherwise, I'd be trying things every day to solve the problem, which usually ends up being worse :)
I've started blowing off the rocks and sand with a little power head every week to lift as many diatoms in the water column as I can, and get them filtered by the ReefMat.
I've also sent out a Oceamo ICP test to get a nice profile of the chemistry and see where I'm at (to sort of verify my tests and instruments).
Anyway, the usual stuff.
So what's happened? Well, two main things.
1. Redbugs
QT only works if you do it right, I suppose. And I guess I didn't. So I have a couple of frags with redbugs on them. This one is the worst:
So I'm sourcing Interceptor. "We don't treat Fish", "We need to do a visit, and it's a $650 min fee", "We're not licensed in CT"... I ordered from Canada.
This will likely be a PITA, because I have 6 shrimp (one of them pistol) that will not be fun to catch, but we'll see. I just got a Melanurus Wrasse as well, but I doubt it will do anything for the red bugs, so I'll likely have to do the Interceptor course.
2. Dinos
Turns out the nitrate(0) phosphate(0.04) imbalance I've been reporting is fueling another nuisance. Not a super heavy infestation, but certainly on the sand and rocks. After a microscope inspection, I've identified them as Ostreopsis.
I don't have space for a UV sterilizer, so I'll start dosing NeoNitro to bring the Nitrates up a bit. I'm guessing the 0 is also what's discoloring the test frags I have in the tank. It's a good thing I'm so busy, otherwise, I'd be trying things every day to solve the problem, which usually ends up being worse :)
I've started blowing off the rocks and sand with a little power head every week to lift as many diatoms in the water column as I can, and get them filtered by the ReefMat.
I've also sent out a Oceamo ICP test to get a nice profile of the chemistry and see where I'm at (to sort of verify my tests and instruments).
Anyway, the usual stuff.
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Thanks for sharing
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